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Economists predict higher salaries and more metro Detroit jobs in 2015, but consumers aren't yet sold on the news.

Stronger auto sales are expected to boost the local economy, but the national outlook has consumers feeling negative.

These results are to be announced Monday as Oakland University releases the latest Southeastern Michigan Economic Outlook results. They show local economists in the public and private sector and executives are relatively hopeful about economic factors like private-sector employment, unemployment and per-capita income improvement through the end of 2015.

A year ago, two economics professors in the OU School of Business Administration in Rochester decided to begin a quarterly regional survey of local economists, business executives and consumers to gauge their predictions for the Southeast Michigan economy.

Rebounding U.S. light vehicle sales — which the economists forecast will be 16.2 million this year and 16.45 million next year — are the main driver, said Jonathan Silberman, an OU economics professor who, along with associate economics professor Ronald Tracy, compiled the survey.

Silberman and Tracy surveyed eight economists, 435 consumers and 41 business executives in the region — Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, Lapeer and St. Clair counties — to produce the report. The pair sent surveys to 115-120 executives, they said.

Tracy said the most telling of a slow but steady recovery for economists is the region's per-capita income, which is expected to increase by 3.5 percent from $43,315 in 2013 to $44,831 by the end of the year. By 2015, they expect it to increase 3.55 percent from $44,831 to $46,422.

But that doesn't include inflation, which by the end of the year is expected to be 2 percent and 2.3 percent by the end of 2015.

The region's unemployment rate is expected to fall from its current 8.2 percent to 7.85 percent, the economists predict. That's down nearly 1 percentage point from the 8.8 percent in December 2013.

There were 1.68 million private-sector jobs in the region last year, and that is expected to increase by 1.5 percent (25,150 jobs) this year and 1.75 percent (29,782 jobs) next year.

Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, said the business leaders' optimism makes sense.

"U.S. companies, especially Michigan companies that were struggling prior to the great recession, have really retooled and got their competitive 'A game' on."

But don't be too optimistic just yet, Baruah said.

"I don't care if you are a worker or business leader or navel-gazer economist, you're looking at the recovery with a little bit of a jaundiced eye because it's never kicked into gear in a meaningful way nationally."

While business executives surveyed said they expect their capital expenditures to remain flat from second-quarter levels, they expect profits, sales and hiring to continue to grow in the third quarter, according to the report.

Consumers generally had a neutral view of the national economy next year and in the next five years.

"Dragging down the Consumer Confidence Index is the consumers' lackluster outlook for the national economy next year, as well as over the next five years, and their difficulty in getting along financially," the report says.

However, "consumers are more optimistic about their financial condition improving next year with a value of 58.8, the only index component above the neutral range."

Stockholm, Sweden-based Cint — which has offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Princeton, N.J. — administers the surveys of consumers, while business executives, all C-suite level, submit information about their companies and complete the survey.

The economists surveyed are from OU, Michigan State University, the University of Michigan-Flint, Wayne State University, IHS Automotive Group, the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Loomis Sales and the Kalamazoo-based W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.